How to Make a Pinhole Toy Camera

Here is a creative way to recycle the excesses we had during the holiday season. A milk carton transformed into a pinhole toy camera. There are so many great ideas to do with a milk carton but this one's easy and fun to create, the results will be rewarding.

A pinhole camera is the basic of all cameras: you just need a tiny hole as a lens to make a photograph. I was very fascinated how it works and so I made myself one. The joy of making the camera plus the anticipation in developing the image it produces is unimaginable.

The steps are simple:

1. Gather all your materials: An empty milk carton, an aluminum sheet taken from soda or chip cans, needle, very fine sandpaper, cut or exacto knife, masking tape, double-sided tape, glue or epoxy, black construction paper, white latex paint, acrylics, varnish, some photographic papers, developer and fixer. You may also use alternatives if the materials are not available.


2. Peel off carefully the plastic lid opening with a cutter. Glue a small piece of board or any small object that fits to close the hole. Take the plastic lid and trace the inner opening to the center of the box facing you or the object to be photographed, this will be the "shutter" of the milk box camera. Cut the traced opening, we will place the "lens" in here later.


3. Take a piece of your used photographic paper, cut to your desired size, and trace it at the back of the milk carton parallel to the hole on the other side. Measure an allowance to give a smaller frame for the "negative film". Cut this smaller frame, this is where the "film back" of the pinhole camera will be placed.


4. Now, cut a small aluminum sheet that will fit the opening made by the traced plastic lid. Punch the smallest pinhole you can get into the aluminum sheet using a needlepoint. The technique is to take your time to get through the sheet slowly. After making the pinhole, you will need to sand it lightly to remove the bur made in punching. Clean the pinhole thoroughly and make sure it is smooth and perfectly round as possible. This will be the "lens" of the pinhole camera.


5. Securely attach the aluminum sheet or "lens" to the opening made by the traced plastic lid inside the box. Put masking tape on the lens' space, front and back to cover the hole from dust and paint. Now you are ready to paint the inside with black, then outside with white. Make sure to sand first to remove the glossy finish of the milk carton so the paint will "stick" to the surface. You can also spray it with a primer first before painting it with a flat latex paint. You can decorate your box with any paint or objects that you like and finally seal the design with a varnish. Attach the plastic lid opening or "shutter" firmly with glue or epoxy.


6. Get your black construction paper (you may use a more durable material for this, say a felt, leather or rubber foam) and measure it accordingly to the size of your photographic paper. Fold and create the pattern to make an envelope as shown in the photo below. Cut an opening on the front side to match the opening of the box. Firmly attach this envelope to the milk box with double-sided tape to seal in the light.


7. In a dark room (if you can't have one you may use the bathroom, placing black curtains on the windows), carefully place your fresh photographic paper into the envelope, with emulsion side (glossy side) sticking to the box, then close the envelope with a masking tape. You are now ready to take your first photograph with the pinhole camera. Open the "shutter" plastic lid as you expose, which takes about 2-8 minutes if it's a dark subject and about 1-2minutes if sunny.


8. After shooting the "negative film" you may develop it with the developer and fixer inside the dark room. To make the positive print, you can sandwich the negative paper with another photographic paper, emulsion side by side and exposed to a 15w bulb then develop as you did with the negative. If you don't need a hard copy right away, you scan the negative and invert the color using Photoshop.


Some tips in shooting with the pinhole camera:
a. Patience is the key to shooting and developing
b. Select subjects that stay still because moving will cause blurry images; landscapes, architecture, and still life work best
c. Shoot outdoor with lots of lighting
d. Secure your pinhole camera firmly to avoid shake as the shutter needs to be exposed longer

Happy shooting!

***

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The Modern Spoliarium

I'm never a fan of boxing, of humans hurting each other while the crowd curses and cheers, all in the price of entertainment. But I believe in the power of Manny Pacquiao, that he is the modern god of the Pinoys: the entire shebang, including himself is symbolical. Manny Pacquiao is another "Elsa", that personifies another Himala. It's like looking at Juan Luna's masterpiece Spoliarium, a compendium of metaphors within metaphors, only on cable TV or LCD or mobile screen, depends on your budget, location and—culture.

Have you ever wondered how the Spoliarium, a painting as large as 4 meters by 7 meters was transported to the Philippines from Spain? Or how they managed the painting of that enormous size enters the small door of the National Museum? And how about this, how on earth was it stolen inside the National Museum, if the rumors were true?

The clue leads to the stitches. If you've seen the spectacular Spoliarium painting close enough, the canvas looks like a collage of overlapping canvasses sewn together and patched up with thick paint. Stories have it that moving the large painting by Juan Luna was a big task and money, they ended up slicing it into pieces and rolled off to a vessel in 18th century express delivery. Now it stands majestically yet chained inside the museum, paradoxical isn't it? That's the power of Spoliarium, just as Manny Pacquiao is.

There is no doubt Manny Pacquiao and Oscar Dela Hoya reaped more than beat and bouts, fame, and not to mention a google of a dollar. Yet, it's no different in the age of gladiators and barbarians, and of endless wars, only glorified by the modern times.

"Dog eat dog" digital photograph

Flaws are Interesting

Mimi, 2005-2012

Among the popular sculptures besides Michelangelo's David, the armless Venus de Milo earned its popularity partly because of the curiosity that evokes the viewer why it is incomplete. Just as amazingly, Rodin's sculptures are crude and almost unfinished, perhaps a take off point from Classicism's near to perfection ideals, yet spark artistic discourse.

In the traditional techniques of the master printers, a small deviation from the originals such as misregistration, stray lines, soiled/inked print, uneven amount of inks, isn't acknowledged as part of the series and won't be signed. Not even "misprints" we have from offset printed books, leaflets or documents, are widely accepted simply because they are rejects and not identical to the originals.

The "Arrovo" 100 peso bills series is considered a printing error, yet that flaw made the series "special" and now collectable, since it can never be reproduced ever again. In multiple original artworks such as prints, if every print is to be considered art, then these printing flaws make them unique.

I love collecting used and old books. Some of the pages are dilapidated, soiled, and folded. Some are rejects because of double prints, misprints, and distorted. But it is these characters that make them special for me. It makes me wonder who their previous owners are and what are the book's adventures with them.

Every part of the human body, if they come in pairs, isn't created perfectly identical. Only God knows the purpose, but science also provide answers. Every human being is flawed, and that's what makes us interesting.


Note: In the photo is our adopted persian cat, Mimi. Its ear is mutilated since we got her and we don't have any idea how or when, but I find her unique just as it is. However, my post hopefully, definitely, strongly discourage cruelty to animals and in no way whatsoever promote mutilation, but rather the appreciation of natural imperfections.

Why I Love Lupito

I finally had the guts and budget to own one of CANVAS' highly acclaimed, award-winning, international quality, Filipino made, children's book offerings. How I long to get at least a copy, the recent Manila Book Fair paved the way of owning a hard bound precious, at a lower price. I got excited to see all of those wonderful books in print and got me thinking to buy the whole hard bound series for my collection. But then my budget was only for one book. I had a difficult time choosing which one to embrace first.

It was "Si Lupito at ang Barrio Sirkero" that won my heart.

It's not only that the artworks were done by one of my favorite painter ever Jose Santos III (How I wish I could afford to buy at least one of his works someday), but the cover really amazed me. The cover looks mystifying, all with the muted sky blue to cool gray with a matte finish that seem to resemble a metallic feel and enhances the subject's magical juggling performance. I cannot distinguish if it's a printing flaw because it looks really subdued and since I have seen the brighter original artworks at the Ayala Museum exhibit, they were very far from the print. Nevertheless it was perfectly right, since the texture and hue created that magical mood that the story calls for.

The paper of the inside pages is quite thick, probably a 100 lbs. matte vellum paper, exquisite for a children's book. The paper thickness complements the hard bound format. The quality of printing is ok, passable to think it was printed outside the country. You can tell a book if it's printed locally through the quality of ink: foreign books seem to have this bright and very rich ink quality more than the "muddy" prints locally. Although I like the cover so much, the design and layout of the inside pages was very simple. The artworks could have been maximized and translated well into paper and book form. Yet I can't complain because there should always be plenty of room for the texts and should be readable, a very important element in children's books. See how difficult it is to create balance in an illustration for a children's book?

The realistic yet odd renderings of illustrations or artworks worked appropriately for the story. The human figures are static and isolated that seem life-like dolls, blurring the line between reality and fantasy. It makes one wonder if there's truly an event, people, or place like that. It's also a merging of the modern and the traditional with the clean, minimalist interior, draping, and background. Some of the objects are symbolical, urges you to think why or what are they for. What I love most about the artwork is the color scheme, it is all subdued and splashed with earth tones, very Filipino. I could almost smell the actual places in the scenes: clean, natural and simple. The settings, costume, and objects are also very Pinoy. Personally, I think some scenes and story line are quite mature to fit a very young audience, perhaps should be recommended only for ages 10-12.

"Si Lupito at ang Barrio Sirkero" is written by Rowald Almazar with artworks by Jose Santos III, from CANVAS, is highly recommended for kids and adults alike. Now I'll have to look for the author and painter to have my copy signed.

A Shocking Revelation

It was a happy sunny day. I had the wonderful opportunity to speak among the brightest kids of affluent parents in one of the best schools of the country today. My talk may not be eloquently delivered, but somehow stirred kid's interest. How amazed I was when the boys urgently lined up, then asked questions eagerly. Flashbacks filled my thoughts-were we assertive like them when we were in grade school? How I wished I was brought up as outgoing and well-rounded like them and studied in a prestigious school like that...I guess confidence and self-esteem can also be achieved if you have everything at your convenience. Otherwise, get confidence in excelling in any field you love, or mature with experience to boost self esteem.

One thing that surprised me most from this experience was this revealing info. I learned that these wealthy parents don't bother letting their very fortunate kids experience or teach them live a simple life in spite of all their conveniences, based on a survey. Part of the reasons were, living on tight and tough times is the least they would want and experience for their children. Or parents would not allow that to happen to them at all, at any cost. They don't usually experience that at home so why should they spend time and energy for that anyway, according to a teacher I chatted with. As if the world is not round, I felt sad to know another inconvenient truth.

On that regard, I am very glad that the school is looking for ways to still educate them on these issues by integrating lessons and immersion programs. After all, we are staying together in a dominantly nourishment-hungry, third-world country anyway.

I'm about to go home when there was this boy who interestedly got a copy of my latest book and he was holding another book. Curiously I asked how much was the other book and he said it was around 300 pesos. I surprisingly thought, wow, how generous his allowance must be! Then while having some chat along the service area of the school, out of the blue, out of nowhere, another kid blurted out his 'I can't remember' story to our group.

It was a funny experience.

Ecstatic over the Cover

Finally, my most anticipated children's book will soon be launched. After the long wait, gruesome imaginative thinking, and hard work, another beautiful baby is born.

I was on a meeting with fellow INKies when Jordan Santos, the ever genius product development officer of Adarna House, surprised me with the cover proof with gold stamping on it. I was so overwhelmed to see the cover spread. I couldn't wait to see the rest of the book.

Adarna House and the Philippine Board on Books for Young People in partnership with Ortigas Foundation Library
invite you to the launch of
"Naku, Nakuu, Nakuuu!"
written by Nanoy Rafael and illustrated by Sergio Bumatay III
on November 21, 2008 at 6 p.m.
Ortigas Foundation Library 2/F Ortigas Building, Ortigas Avenue Pasig City.
RSVP Vanessa Estares @ 372-35-48 local 110